Date of Award

2010-01-01

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Mechanical Engineering

Advisor(s)

Connie Gomez

Abstract

Engineering of hard tissues such as bone is a challenge because of the limited ability of the body to heal large defects. Current treatment options, such as employing bone sections from the patient or a deceased donor have been utilized for some time now with various degrees of success. However, these methods still exhibit many limitations such as limited supply and the possibility of transmission of disease.

To address the many limitations of bone grafts, synthetic engineered substitutes have been developed and widely researched for nearly three decades. Generally termed scaffolds, these are matrices that serve the purpose of temporary cell structures to guide tissue regeneration. A similar area of research, sometimes referred as in-vivo tissue engineering, is distraction osteogenesis. This is a surgical procedure where the application of gradual traction to two segments of bone results in new tissue formation at their interface and it has been utilized for large bone defect reconstruction after trauma or disease.

This research focused on investigating the novel approach of scaffolds and distraction osteogenesis in synergy. A biocompatible material was seeded with cells induced to the bone forming phenotype and a simulated distraction study was performed to evaluate the ability of cells for in-vitro 3-D mineral deposition. Results of initial experiments carried out using a custom setup indicate that some degree of mineralization was achieved but further improvements are still required.

Language

en

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Size

89 pages

File Format

application/pdf

Rights Holder

Cesar Adrian Terrazas

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